Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Before the early 1990s, little was known about hoarding in general or animal hoarding in particular. Even today, the disease is still not well understood. Animal hoarding has been called the most egregious form of animal cruelty. Unlike a single act of animal cruelty, animal hoarding affects large numbers of animals for long periods of time. A single hoarder may have hundreds of animals in his or her care, all living in squalor for years. According to Randall Lockwood, PhD, senior vice president at the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, "In terms of the toll it takes, hoarders are a much more serious source of animal suffering.” Randall further states, “Being kept by a hoarder is a slow kind of death for the animal. Actually, it's a fate worse than death." Hoarders have a pathological need to obtain and control animals; however, they fail to recognize the suffering they are inflicting on the animals, on themselves, or on anyone who lives with them.

"Historically, collecting animals was viewed as an animal lover who gets in over his or her head, but the truth is that people who hoard are at a total loss of insight,” says Lockwood. “They have no real perception of the harm they're doing…."

Animal hoarding is often a symptom of greater mental illness. According to the Hoarding of Animals Research Consortium (HARC), “Because removing animals from a hoarder does not resolve the problem, mental health professionals must explore the relationship of the hoarder and the hoarded animals.” Also, according to the Consortium, “With recidivism close to 100%, animal hoarding has evidently not been mitigated by customary sentencing that is limited to fines, forfeiture of some or all of the animals, prohibiting future ownership, and (rarely) incarceration. …the motivation and perpetuation of animal hoarding has psychological underpinnings which are not lessened in their intensity by these sanctions alone.”

Researchers estimate between 3,000 and 7,000 new cases of animal hoarding occur yearly, accounting for the suffering and death of over 250,000 animals. Dr. Gary Patronek and his colleagues on the HARC identified four key characteristics of animal hoarders:

Failure to provide minimal standards of sanitation, space, nutrition, and veterinary care for the animals

Inability to recognize the effects of this failure on the welfare of the animals, human members of the household, and the environment

Obsessive attempts to accumulate or maintain a collection of animals in the face of progressively deteriorating conditions

Denial or minimization of problems and living conditions for people and animals

For the second time in nine years, dozens of animals were confiscated from a home in Orange City.

Authorities said 59 cats were rescued, and all of them were underweight and living in their own waste.

Volusia County Animal Services responded to the home because the woman who lived there had been taken to a hospital on Tuesday. It was the paramedics who responded to that scene that said the cats were in trouble.

Animal Service experts only needed a brief look through the windows to know they would need a court order.

Rescue workers wore respirators as they rounded up the cats.

"There's a kitchen that's littered, literally, with all kids of trash, household trash, cat feces and cats everywhere," Volusia County Animal Services Director Becky Wilson said. "The refrigerator door is open. it's not on, but its got food decaying food in there, and there were actually cats sitting on the shelves ... in the refrigerator."

The same house received a visit in 2001. More than 35 cats, a few dogs and some turtles were rescued..." More & video

Forty cats and a dog have been seized from a Deering home by the Animal Rescue League of New Hampshire, marking the organization's 13th animal hoarding case this year.

ARL Investigator Maureen Prendergast said the Bedford-based non-profit organization is projected to take in 2,175 abused animals this year, compared to 1,905 last year. The ARL is already 58 percent over budget for medical costs to aid abused animals, she said.

"We completely, 100 percent, rely on donations," Prendergast said.

The latest hoarding case comes from 2352 Second N.H. Turnpike in Deering, where police arrested Randy M. Emery, 58, his wife Phyllis A. Emery, 56 and their son, Randy C. Emery, 36, and charged each one Monday with one count of animal cruelty.

Calling the conditions of their home, "deplorable," Prendergast said that earlier this month she and other investigators observed feces and urine on the floors and furniture, which also had a plethora of flies and sneezing cats "" a signal of feline respiratory problems.

"It's not really suitable for even people to be living like that,"

Prendergast said. "You feel bad for the owners as well."

According to court papers, police investigated the Emerys for animal complaints in 2007 and again in January of this year. Police and ARL monitored the conditions of the home, which "significantly deteriorated" this spring.

With the help of police, the ARL took 18 cats from the home June 14 after the family agreed to give them up. Authorities were going to take the remaining cats as well, but the Emerys allegedly refused.

More than 70 rabbits and 65 birds were seized from a St. Petersburg house Wednesday.

Animal control officers said they found the animals living in terrible conditions and that many of them were being kept in small plastic kennels.

Deputies from Pinellas County Sheriff's Office were called to the home at 4650 68th St. N. to assist the SPCA, who is leading the investigation. Officials spent several hours removing animals from the home.

The animals are now in the care of the SPCA. They will provide them with food, shelter and medical care before adopting them out to homes..." More

Angel McCurdy A 41-year-old Crestview woman was arrested June 29 on charges of causing cruel death, pain and suffering to animals and six counts of animal abandonment.

Animal control officers seized 16 cats, two kittens and four dogs from the home of Elizabeth Gail Moore. The officers told an Okaloosa County Sheriff’s deputy they believed the animals had been abandoned for a long period of time.

During the confiscation, the animal control officers found the skeletal remains of five animals — two inside the home and three outside the home, according to an Okaloosa County Sheriff’s report.

While the deputy was speaking with the PAWS officers, he saw four dogs inside the front yard confined inside a chain link fence. In another fence on the side of the home, he saw seven cats, an animal skull and one skeleton.

Inside a separate pen, the deputy saw another cat and skeleton.

Large amounts of feces, urine and trash were scattered throughout the house. The deputy also found nine more cats, two kittens and two more skeletal remains among the trash and feces on the floor, the report said..." More

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

No one knows what's piled up behind closed doors and most hoarders prefer to keep it that way. Compulsive hoarding is collecting items in excess combined with the inability to throw anything away. Hoarders may collect things that are new, but in most cases the items have little or no value. Some hoarders even collect multiples of the same items, especially clothing. A hoarder doesn't discard anything – even trash or garbage – if there is the slightest chance it could be used at a later time.

Active and Passive Hoarders

There are two approaches to hoarding: Active and passive. In both cases, mountains of items fill nearly every available space in the house. A hoarder may have piles of junk outdoors in the yard. What is the difference between an active hoarder and a passive hoarder?

Active hoarders salvage items from trash cans, flea markets, yard sales and every place else imaginable. An active hoarder may go shopping at the mall and will buy items that he or she really doesn't need. Active hoarders go online to buy things or make mail order purchases for items that will probably never be used.

Passive hoarders accumulate things contributed by other people. The passive hoarder accepts clothing, furniture, collectibles, old appliances, electronics or anything else that a neighbor, friend, coworker or family member outside the home no longer wants. Like the active hoarder, the passive hoarder believes his "treasures" are worth keeping..." More

The woman charged with keeping 27 cats and dogs locked in a hot car had been the subject of numerous complaints about animal abuse according to former neighbors. Neighbors of 39-year old Lori Pellin, had complained for months about the woman, who they say was keeping the animals in her apartment until smell became so bad that she was kicked out.

Pellin lived in south St. Louis at Loran and Jamison before getting evicted last week. Pellin is charged with animal abuse and the St. Charles Animal Control are housing 25 cats and a dog seized from her car, and now her neighbors are speaking out.

"Every 2-3 days there was a big smell in there. In the back it was worse. I guess is adds up, 25 cats, I guess that smell, it adds up." Said a neighbor..." More & video

Police had been looking for William Joseph Benjamin Hilliard, 74, following the discovery of 46 animals at a home on Lewis Street in Bristol, Virginia.

They had already charged on summonses 62-year-old Shirley R. Murray with 46 counts of failure to provide adequate care for the animals that were seized from the residence.

Officers located Hilliard earlier today at the Bristol Branch of Highlands Fellowship on Lee Highway. He was apparently discharged from the hospital yesterday, where he was taken after he became ill during the event that unfolded on Friday, but could not return to the home because it was deemed unfit for occupancy.

Police were able to locate him today because of a call from a person who recognized him and had heard through the news media that we were looking for him. It is not clear as to where Hilliard is actually staying right now, and the police department has offered to provide him assistance in finding a place to stay, but he insists that he has relatives in the area with whom he can stay..." More

Jun 29, 2010: TWO PEOPLE FACE 46 CHARGES IN DOG ABUSE CASE

After conferring with the Commonwealth's Attorney's Office, Bristol, VA Animal Control Officer Deena Bouton has placed charges in the dog case from Lewis Street that was reported on Friday, June 25.

Shirley R. Murray, 62, was charged today with 46 counts of failure to provide adequate care for the animals that were seized from the residence.

William Joseph Benjamin Hilliard, 74, will also face the same 46 charges as soon as he is located. After the dogs were seized from the home on Lewis Street on Friday, Murray and Hilliard were not allowed to return because the house was deemed unfit for occupancy..." More

Jun 25, 2010: 50 dogs seized from Bristol, Virginia home

Authorities in Bristol, Virginia, say about 50 dogs have been seized from a house where animals were bred.

Investigators said the house Friday morning was covered in urine and feces. No one was immediately arrested.

Authorities said a couple who live in the house breed dogs and sell them out of a truck throughout the city.

According to the Bristol Herald Courier, the house was declared unfit for human or animal occupancy.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Rescue workers have removed about 400 cats from a shelter in western Pennsylvania.The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals says it has removed the animals from an animal sanctuary in St. Marys, about 120 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.

The cats are being taken to an undisclosed emergency shelter for treatment.

The ASPCA says rescue workers removed the animals from Animal Friends of Elk and Cameron Counties on Thursday.

Officials say the cats were living in overcrowded conditions on the first floor of a two-story building.

The telephone number at the sanctuary was not working Thursday and officials there could not be reached for comment..." More

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

That's the worst house that Ewing animal control officer Rick Moore has ever seen in his year and a half on the job.

There we so many cats that they had chewed through the walls of the house.

The smell was unbelievable, he told me.

There are a number of houses like that in Ewing, and if you live next to one, you probably know it. Cat hoarders often leave food outside their homes, so their houses become gigantic colonies of feral felines and feeding stations for all kinds of other wildlife

Psychologists who study compulsive animal hoarders say that they think they are caring for the animals by feeding them, though often animals multiply beyond the ability of the hoarder to provide proper sanitation. Conditions turn squalid for the animals, the hoarder and neighbors alike.

That's when people like Rick Moore get called to come clean up the mess.

What drives people to gather so many creatures under one roof? No one knows for sure.

In 1999, G. J. Patronek studied 56 cases of animal hoarders in New York City. He found that the stereotype of the "Crazy Cat Lady" pretty much held up. About three quarters of animal hoarders were women, 40 percent were older than 60 and the most commonly hoarded animal was cats..." More

The ASPCA’s Field Investigations and Response Team was deployed to Waynesboro, Tenn., on June 17 to assist the Wayne County Sheriff’s Department with a critical hoarding intervention.

A total of 85 dogs—including German Shepherds, Labradors and Hound mixes—were discovered in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions on a property owned by an elderly man. The dogs were contained in large pens, chained to posts throughout the yard and found roaming the property.

“The dumping of dogs is a serious problem throughout this area and local authorities are without the resources or infrastructure to handle the problem,” says Kyle Held, the ASPCA’s Midwest Regional Director of Field Investigations and Response. “In this case, an elderly man became overwhelmed by the number of dogs in his care—he obviously needed help and voluntarily gave us custody of the animals.”

Twelve of the rescued dogs have since been moved—via the ASPCA’s new, custom-built animal transport trailer—to the ASPCA Bergh Memorial Animal Hospital in New York City where they are undergoing medical treatment before being made available for adoption.

“Many of the dogs tested heartworm positive,” says Dr. Robert Reisman, Medical Coordinator of Abuse Cases at the ASPCA. “Heartworm is a treatable condition, but it will take at least six to eight weeks until the treatment is complete.”..." More

Yavapai County Animal Control officers removed 30 dogs and five cats from a northwest Arizona property.

During a forfeiture hearing, Seligman Justice Court Judge Paul Julien ordered Ann Seymour to forfeit all the animals on her Seligman property with the exception of one dog and one cat stemming from conditions authorities found on her property in the past month.

Julien said evidence showed that dogs and cats on Seymour's property had been cruelly mistreated and neglected.

The forfeiture hearing arose from conditions Animal Control deputies found when they responded to an animal-control appointed caretaker's call about an injured dog found on Seymour's property on June 7..." More

A 38-year-old Sandy Springs woman had to be rescued from her home after being trapped by years worth of trash.

She is what experts call a hoarder -- someone who accumulates years worth of shoes, clothing and newspapers or other useless material and refuses to throw anything away.

CBS Atlanta spoke with a psychiatrist who said hoarding is not that uncommon.

"I've seen hundreds of cases in my career," said Atlanta-based Dr. Dave Davis.

Davis said hoarding is a disease that can start as early as childhood.

"It can be a combination of factors from genetic to environmental," said Davis. "My worst case was a patient who had waste piled to the ceiling of her home. To get from the kitchen to the bathroom, she had to walk around the outside of her house because all the halls were packed floor to ceiling with waste..." More & video

COUNCILS - sick of cleaning up after serial hoarders - are sending in counsellors to help problem residents.

Nearly 200 hoarders across the Sydney basin are well known to authorities; Waverley Council has sent cleaners to a single Bondi house 14 times in 17 years and Willoughby Council has 12 problem properties.

Councils are frustrated at having to repeatedly clean out yards and houses of people living in waist-deep rubbish.

They can force the issue when nests of snakes, rats and cockroaches appear - but six months later the filth is back, outraging neighbours and creating a general health hazard.

Willoughby City Council has engaged Macquarie University to run a clinical study to treat people with severe hoarding issues.

Willoughby Mayor Pat Reilly said the program would give therapy to severe hoarders..." More

Our world is one dominated by possessions. For most of us, possessions are a source of comfort, convenience, and pleasure. But for Irene, one of the main characters in Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things, they have also become a living hell. Fifteen years ago, Irene called me desperate for help. Her husband told her to clear the clutter from their home or he would leave her. She couldn't. Now she feared he would take away her children because of the state of their home. Irene was tormented by her problem. She wept as she told me her story. A bright and enthusiastic child, Irene excelled at college. She went on to complete a graduate degree and start a family with her college sweetheart. But there were signs along the way of the trouble to come. In graduate school her tendency to carry things around with her led her classmates to call her "bag lady". The clutter in her room completely hid most of the furniture. During the first few years of their marriage, the house was cluttered, but livable. Things slowly got worse, however, and after 15 years, her husband had had enough..." More

Pamela Jean Blubaugh of Ireland is scheduled to be arraigned Friday. She was indicted by the Lewis County grand jury.

Deputies seized the dogs in March from the 48-year-old Blubaugh's property and another location in the county.

In a March report to the County Commission, Weston veterinarian William Moodispaw said a barn and surrounding areas where the dogs were kept were "filthy, wet and in horribly foul-smelling [conditions].''

Nine dogs were euthanized. The others were taken to shelters across West Virginia.

Blubaugh had said she tried for years to find homes for the dogs but didn't get much help..." Link

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Symposium Wednesday July 28th, 2010This ground-breaking symposium, hosted at Bucks County Community College Newtown campus from 10a.m. to 3p.m., brings together the leading academic and intervention experts in the fascinating field of animal hoarding, and an audience of first responder agencies (public safety, fire, building codes), health department, Children and Youth Services, Mental Health, Area Agency on Aging, humane society, veterinary, County Animal Response Team, and others. This will be profoundly informative, provocative, and is designed to explore collaborative interagency resource-development for earlier and more successful interventions and outcomes for the people and animals who suffer through this disorder.

Seminar GoalsGary Patronek and Jane Nathanson will work with attendees to eliminate stereotypes and increase the baseline level of awareness of this behavior among those involved in caring for animals, public agencies, and those involved in health and safety, emergency response, municipal authorities, public health and the legal system. It is the goal for these various groups to then come together collaboratively and develop an effective team response to, treat, and prevent the effects of animal hoarding on all involved. Learn more about the issue of hoarding.

Who should attend?Veterinarians, Vet Techs, social workers, mental health workers, emergency responders, municipal officials and anyone who deals with animals who have been the victims of hoarding, individuals struggling to overcome their animal hoarding disorder, those who must negotiate the system to deliver services to homes where hoarding occurs or who must protect those who can be victimized by a hoarders actions (neighbors, family, etc). Register now.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Investigators seized 36 dogs, six exotic birds and two cats from a home just outside Dexter Thursday evening - pushing the Humane Society of Huron Valley's shelter over its capacity, officials announced today.

Humane Society animal cruelty investigators went to the Webster Township home based on an anonymous tip about five dogs left with no food and water, a news release said.

Humane Society Executive Director Tanya Hilgendorf said the animals were living among filth and feces in the home with two adults.

"This was no place you want an animal or a person living in," she said.

Matt Schaecher, lead cruelty investigator, said in a news release that investigators plan to seek animal cruelty charges and believe the family was illegally breeding the dogs for profit.

"But our investigation is still under way at this time," he said.

The dogs included 31 Whippets of different ages - including many puppies, four Italian Greyhounds, and a Skye Terrier. All the animals are at the Humane Society, where they will undergo health evaluations and be prepared for adoption.

Hilgendorf said the owners, who were present when investigators arrived Thursday, voluntarily signed over their rights to the animals..." More

Some of the dogs rescued from dismal circumstances Friday night at a remote Wildwood Road residence may have owners.

Blount County Society of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (BSCPA) seized 20 dogs from the property.

...Anyone recognizing their pet can call BCSPCA President Vickey Dennis at 256-9106 or the shelter at 980-6244...""More & pictures

Jun 19, 2010: Case of animal ‘hoarding' results in arrest

By Mark Boxley

In a macabre scene that included skulls that had been hung in trees and remains of dogs — at least a dozen — left to rot on the metal roof of a small outbuilding on a heavily wooded piece of property on Wildwood Road in Maryville, 20 live animals were removed from the property and remains of 22 more were found.

Investigators expect to find more, with remains of as many as 100 dead dogs possibly left strewn across several acres, covered by leaves and thick wooded underbrush..." More & video (graphic)

Jun 18, 2010: Dozens of living and dead dogs found on Blount County property

Kellie Bachman, with the Blount County SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals), said they got a tip that took them to the home of Charles Perkins, 63, on Wildwood Road, back in January. At that time, Perkins had 30 dogs on his property. Perkins agreed then to reduce the number of animals to four, which he did, for a while.

Then on Tuesday, Bachman said one of Perkin's dogs ran into the road and was hit by a car. When animal control officers came to assist, the dog ran back on to the property. The officers followed, and discovered a number of living and deceased dogs.

"The animals had collars that were too tight and embedded. They were tied to small leads and confined into a small area," said Bachman.

The SPCA obtained a search warrant and served it Friday afternoon. Officials found and removed around 20 live dogs, and found the bodies of 20 dead dogs. They also discovered the skeletal remains of other dogs. They estimate that number could reach 100 by the time they check the entire property.

The surviving dogs are being removed and taken to the Blount County Animal Center for evaluation and treatment.

"(We'll) go ahead and start cataloging the live animals to get them to a shelter for some relief and get them off the property," said Bachman.

Perkins surrendered the dogs, and was arrested.

Bachman also says a white Dodge Ram pickup truck spotted on the property matches the description of a vehicle seen in areas where dogs have gone missing..." More & video

Welcome

This blog was created to keep you up-to-date on animal hoarding and large scale animal news and cruelty.

Because hoarding and OCD disorders often overlap, we will also list news and information related to these topics, and how these illness's affect the hoarder, their family and friends, but most of all the animals, that suffer..."alone in a crowded room".

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